Planning commission recommends North Ridgeville High School Phase 2 with conditions

The North Ridgeville Planning Commission on June 10 recommended approval of the Phase 2 plan for the new North Ridgeville High School, subject to several conditions including clarified parking and pedestrian elements, a lighting plan review, denser buffering along Pitts Road and fire-department requirements.

Applicant Claire Bank of ThenDesign Architecture presented revised site layouts that moved stormwater basins and pulled parking away from property lines to increase vegetation buffers for nearby neighbors. Bank said the design added marked pedestrian crossings in parking areas and adjusted landscaping to avoid species and placement concerns previously raised by the city.

Construction manager Joe Killian (Hammond) summarized the phasing and schedule, describing current summer 2025 sitework and a construction timeline that the team stated would conclude with the high school completed in May 2028: —fast forward essentially to May of 2028, the high school's done,— he said.

Planning and Development Director Lieber reviewed outstanding staff comments and items the applicant must supply or clarify. She said the schools provided documentation showing 269 spaces at build out and that staff—s calculation showed 1,139 spaces required based on employees and assembly needs; Lieber added the parking count issue had been addressed for the commission—s purposes but that bike parking and crosswalk locations still needed to appear on the final site-development plans. Lieber also said the lighting/photometric plan is outstanding and likely will require variances handled by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

City engineering raised additional technical items. The engineer stated that —chapter 12 85 does require a 4 foot buffer at the end of the parking trees— and recommended showing an auto-turn layout for emergency vehicles, especially a fire truck. The fire department—s staff report noted locations of fire-service connections and raised questions about carbon-monoxide detection and hazardous-materials planning.

Superintendent Roxanne Casario and members of the public, including a high-school coach, expressed support for the project; Casario said the district had engaged more than 1,500 participants in a visual-preference exercise and that community response had been positive.

The commission moved to recommend approval with requirements: clearly show bike parking and pedestrian crosswalks on the site plan; submit a lighting/photometric plan and obtain administration approval (and, if necessary, BZA variances); provide a denser landscape buffer along Pitts Road as determined by staff and the city arborist; add a 4-foot buffer at the ends of parking-tree aisles per city code; and incorporate the fire department—s recommendations. The motion carried unanimously on a roll call of Commissioners Ali, Toth, Schuman and Abens.